My Pals Are Here! Mathematics Efficacy Study (India)

Report Details: My Pals Are Here! Mathematics: A Study of the Effectiveness of the Instructional Resource (India) (Ref: EFY1002/11/2025, November 2025). Authored by Dr. Cynthia Seto (Principal Consultant, Marshall Cavendish Education) and published by the MCE Research Unit.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the My Pals Are Here! Mathematics (MPAH! Maths) instructional programme—published by Marshall Cavendish Education (MCE)—on student learning outcomes in a primary school in India.

• Participants: 263 Grade 4 students and 7 Mathematics teachers participated. After excluding students absent during key parts of the study, data from 223 students were analyzed.

• Curriculum Focus: Evaluated student performance on "Whole Numbers", covering three chapters: Numbers to 100 000, Factors and Multiples, and Multiplication and Division of Whole Numbers (Chapters 1–3).

• Assessment Structure: Developed by Dr. Cynthia Seto using identical 20-mark Pre-tests and Post-tests.

o Note: Due to school scheduling constraints, teachers had taught portions of Numbers to 100 000 prior to the Pre-test, but the remaining two chapters were not taught until after the baseline test.

• 3-Month Interval: A three-month gap was enforced between the Pre-test and Post-test to eliminate the recency effect and measure genuine long-term concept mastery.

• Qualitative Data: A recorded Zoom focus group discussion was held with the 7 mathematics teachers to gather qualitative insights on classroom implementation.

• Overall Score Improvement: The average test score increased from 8.20 / 20 on the Pre-test to 11.36 / 20 on the Post-test.

• Practical Effect Size (Overall): Achieved a Cohen’s d effect size of 0.67 (\(\approx\) 0.7), indicating a medium-to-large effect with practical significance. This shifts an average student from the 50th percentile to the 76th percentile.

• Higher-Order Problem Solving: Performance on word problems requiring higher-order thinking skills achieved an effect size of 0.89 (\(\approx\) 0.9), lifting an average student from the 50th percentile to the 82nd percentile.

• Breakthrough for Struggling Learners: 10% of students who scored zero on the Pre-test went on to score above the passing mark on the Post-test.

During the focus group discussion, teachers attributed student improvement to several core design features of MPAH! Maths:

1. Progressive Scaffolding: Well-structured examples that gradually increase in difficulty support student understanding and build confidence.

2. Visual Representations: Clear illustrations help students visualize mathematical concepts (such as place value) in multiple visual forms.

3. Structured Word-Problem Guidance: Prompts in the Pupil's Book (e.g., "What do I need to find?") effectively guide students through part-whole relationship analysis.

4. Blended Support: Teachers utilized the MPAH! Teacher's Guide extensively for lesson preparation alongside digital resources on MCEduHub.